2021-08-10

Is Your Surgical Charting as Paperless as You Think?

Austin Riddaugh, Associate VP of Business Development, ShareableForms

In today’s ASC Environment, providers are constantly looking for ways to improve workflows, provide impeccable patient care and become financially healthy. Our partner, ShareableForms shares their best practices on how to improve efficiencies that your patients, staff and bottom line will be grateful for.

The Accreditation Association for Ambulatory Health Care’s 2021 Quality Roadmap cites the number one deficiency for non-Medicare Deeming Status Organizations being surgical documentation. In today’s ASC Environment, providers are constantly looking for ways to improve workflows, provide impeccable patient care and become financially healthy.

While we can all likely agree that paper is not the most dynamic form of documentation, what exactly about paper is the problem? We’ve compiled a list of problems paper brings from ASCs across the country. Traditional charting has been found to be:

  1. TIME CONSUMING: Pulling patient data for chart construction and deconstruction, scanning for electronic storage, and raw coding for billing purposes uses up valuable time
  2. INEFFICIENT: Documenting redundant data on multiple forms wastes effort
  3. EXPENSIVE: ASCs spend an average of $7 on materials per paper chart, not including time spent constructing and deconstructing them
  4. INACCURATE: Often prone to human error, almost 1 in 10 people who retrieve records online ultimately have to ask for corrections for a number of reasons.
  5. LIMITING: Manual work is needed to build reports and run analytics.

Because of these issues, one thing remains clear: the world is moving to paperless solutions. We have already begun to see the need for swift electronic documentation necessitated by legislation and patient demand. With proposed cuts to facility and professional fees looming, you have to start thinking about ways to work smarter and not just harder. To put it simply, you cannot afford to be on paper and soon you won’t have the choice.

We understand your conundrum of wanting to move towards more progressive solutions, yet not wanting to give up your tried-and-true forms. Thankfully not all surgical documentation tools are created equal. TPS has partnered with ShareableFORMS to provide our clients with a service that allows you to maintain the exact look of your forms, while moving to more advanced procedures via an iPad. A decision to move away from paper will inevitably result in improved efficiencies that your patients, staff and your bottom line will be grateful for.

To request a demo of ShareableFORMS, click here.